Two-year-old who was allegedly raped by her uncle dies in Gujarat hospital

Vadodara: A two-year-old who was raped, allegedly by her maternal uncle, and then thrown into a thorny bush, has died in a Vadodara hospital. The child had been found wailing in the bush by a few young men in the Gujarat town of Halol on Friday. They had also managed to pin down the uncle and hand him over to the police.

The child's parents, who are from Nepal, rushed her to a hospital nearby, from where she was shifted to SSG Hospital in Vadodara for treatment. The police said that the father is a private security guard. The accused is the mother's brother and was visiting the family.

A case of rape and kidnapping was registered against the accused and now a murder charge under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been added. The distraught parents have demanded the death penalty for the accused.

On Saturday, trading and business organisations, NGOs, and the autorickshaw association had protested in Halol and in a memorandum sought severe punishment for the accused for the heinous crime.

Another case of rape was also reported in Gujarat on Monday. A 20-year-old from Bharuch has filed a complaint against an auto driver, alleging that he had raped her about nine months back while ferrying her to school. The girl has alleged that the driver had threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed the incident to her parents. On Monday though, the girl finally broke down before her parents and recounted her trauma.

News of these cases comes at a time when India has been incensed by the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old medical student on December 16 in Delhi. The gang-rape survivor, 'Amanat' (NOT her real name) is still battling for her life at Safdarjung Hospital in the capital.